Business question

[Hammermechanicman]

All the small shops around me have closed. My shop is a 24x24. Building and i am a small one man shop. I am retired so fixing mowers does not pay all the bills. I make enough to buy most the toys snd tools i want. My suggestion is become a sole proprietorship LLC, get a tax ID #, get liability insurance for the LLC. Open a checking account and credit card in the LLC name. Get business cards. All this is fairly cheap. You will need to charge sales tax and show taxable income. Talk to an accountant it will be worth what they charge.
Most of my work like other shops is seasonal so in off season i do handyman work. I stock very little in parts, mainly fuel system, oil filters, air filters and spark plugs. Most everything else i order as needed. I looked at opening a storefront shop. I would have to charge about $100 an hour like the 2 John deere dealers near me plus be a dealership for some line of mowers and power equipment. Sales generates more money than service.
Check with your local zoning about running a business out of the building you are going to use. If in a small community leave business cards at local businesses like the bank, hardware store, independent auto repair shop, restaurants. Make up a flyer advertising seasonal maint to go with the cards. When you fix a piece of equipment give the customer 3 business cards. Tell them keep one and give the other to friends. Stand behind your work. If something comes back fix it free regardless of reason. Reputation is everything. I buy 500 business cards every year. Cards are cheap from vistaprint. If possible get a trailer to do pickup and delivery. Will really increase your riding mower business.
Good luck

 

[bertsmobile1]

The best promotion I have done was to give the 3 local primary schools a free service voucher.
They get one each every year which becomes a minor raffle prize at a fundraiser.
The actual cost to me is next to nothing as service parts that are included are filters , oil , belts & blades.
It blew one of them away when I fitted 3 new blades to their 48" ride on, no charge.
The actual cost of the service is about 1 ad in the local newspaper and only about 2/3 of the vouchers get redeemed.
I put a 2 year expirey date on these so they don't come back & bite me.
I also don't worry when the person presenting them is not the person they were originally awarded to.
I also do pensioner work with a fixed , discounted labour fee.
They pay full price for parts but only $ 29 to get their walk behinds serviced & $ 50 for a small ride on.
These people can not afford a new mower so become regular customers because they want the mowers to outlast them.

The younger new residents just go into the city & buy a new mower.

 

[PTmowerMech]

From what I've seen, buying used (cheap) fixing & selling it, makes a LOT more money than repairs. I don't take credit cards. But customers with Facebook accounts, can pay with their cards through Facebook pay. It's free. With a credit card service, IIRC, they charge like 3% to 5%.

 

[ILENGINE]

From what I've seen, buying used (cheap) fixing & selling it, makes a LOT more money than repairs. I don't take credit cards. But customers with Facebook accounts, can pay with their cards through Facebook pay. It's free. With a credit card service, IIRC, they charge like 3% to 5%.

I used to do some of that also, but it got to the point where people were not wanting to pay more than about $25-30 for push mowers and $150-200 for riders.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Same story with reselling repaired stuff as well.
They come to the gate almost every day and demand a $ 10 trade in.
Got sick of argueing with them so I wheel out an old Victa with holed wheels and a rusted through deck and rusty handles.
When they look aghast I produce a set of replacement blades & bolts clearly marked $ 7-50 and drop the line this is a $ 2-50 mower or $ 10 with new blades, won't charge them my std $ 15 fitting fee for the blades , catcher is $ 20 extra .
I get called some nice ripe words and most then leave $ 20 worth of rubber on the road as they wheel spin away giving me the bird as they go.
Really restore one's faith in humanity and sets you up mentally for a fun day.

The reasonably good mowers that are worth repairing get repaired and then loaned out to the desperate ( my daughter is getting married tomorrow & I got to mow the grass before the marquee is errected ).
Most of the used sales happen this way .

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I used to flip mowers. Not any more. Most folks don't want to, like the man said, pay more than a couple hundred dollars for a used rider. Even if someone gives me an old rider by the time i put parts in it like blades, filters and belts and 3 or 4 hours of my time at my shop rate of $40/hr i am in it for more than i can sell it for. most folks want me to pay them like a hundred for a mower that i need to fix up and give a warranty on. Thanks but no thanks. Most things i flipped i either lost money or just broke even. My labor is worth something. A wise man once told me "There is no money in owning a boat but there is good money in fixing other people's boats." Very true words
I don't want your mower
I want you to pay me to fix your mower. I refuse to have a mower junkyard behind my shop. I don't install used parts and i don't warehouse junk so someone can save a few dollars on a repair i have to warranty. That is a different guy. Junk mowers i get go to the scrap yard.

 

[PTmowerMech]

I used to do some of that also, but it got to the point where people were not wanting to pay more than about $25-30 for push mowers and $150-200 for riders.

Dang I can see why you stopped doing that. I get more than that for on during the winter. Sold one a couple of weeks ago for $300. Decent push mowers, (plain Jane with good paint) will go for about $60.
Depending on the time of the year. Buy cheap in the winter, sell in the spring & summer. Pick up a lot of free mowers. Ones with good paint, save to sell, Bad paint jobs I use as parts mowers.
People are funny about paint. They'll give more for a mower with a good paint job, but doesn't run or cut just right, than they'll give for one that runs like brand new, but has a chip in the paint or a busted hood.

 

[PTmowerMech]

I used to flip mowers. Not any more. Most folks don't want to, like the man said, pay more than a couple hundred dollars for a used rider. Even if someone gives me an old rider by the time i put parts in it like blades, filters and belts and 3 or 4 hours of my time at my shop rate of $40/hr i am in it for more than i can sell it for. most folks want me to pay them like a hundred for a mower that i need to fix up and give a warranty on. Thanks but no thanks. Most things i flipped i either lost money or just broke even. My labor is worth something. A wise man once told me "There is no money in owning a boat but there is good money in fixing other people's boats." Very true words
I don't want your mower
I want you to pay me to fix your mower. I refuse to have a mower junkyard behind my shop. I don't install used parts and i don't warehouse junk so someone can save a few dollars on a repair i have to warranty. That is a different guy. Junk mowers i get go to the scrap yard.

I never give more than $100 for a mower. Usually it's just a little more than scrap price. If it's close, I'll pick it up. A lot of the time, I'll get my resell mowers for free. I'm going tomorrow to pick up a John Deere for $45. THE only thing that wrong with it, that I seen myself, is a blown fuse and the paint is not good.

 

[AVB]

Some the same story about not selling used equipment most cost to repair than it can be sold for. Just gave up repairing any left mowers or purchased ones instead just parting them out now. Now my brother half way repair them and get the same money I tried to sell them at for here. Most poeple lately are just barking that they get them at yard sales for a little of nothing.

I basically just got where I repair the ones that customers are willing to have repaired correctly and just forget the rest.

And Bert I think figured out where the world you are. It wouldn't be the big island across that big pond that is on fire right now?

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yep,
We were under fire advice a goodly amount of Dec & early Jan.
If the Erskine Creek fire jumps containment lines then we will be in danger again.
A problem cause by city dwelling white men who naturally know better how to manage the land because they are white & have computers.
The only place that does not have catastrophic fires is the bit we thought was worthless so left the native inhabitants alone to do their silly cultural burning